Calendar Archive: Spring 2013

Outside the Wire, a social impact company, will present performances of Theater of War and End of Life at Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center, at Bowdoin College, February 7 and 8, 2013.

Theater of War will be presented Thursday, February 7, at 7 p.m., and End of Life will be presented Friday, February 8, at 12:30 p.m.

The performances are free and open to the public.

Theater of War presents readings of Sophocles' Ajax and Philoctetes to military and civilian communities across the United States, Europe and Japan. These ancient plays timelessly and universally depict the psychological and physical wounds inflicted upon warriors by war.

By presenting these plays to military and civilian audiences, the hope is to de-stigmatize psychological injury, increase awareness of post-deployment psychological health issues, disseminate information regarding available resources, and foster greater family, community, and troop resilience.

This performance runs two hours.

End of Life presents readings of Sophocles' Women of Trachis as a catalyst for town hall discussions with the audience about suffering and death as it touches patients, families, and health professionals who work in the fields of medicine, palliative care, hospice, geriatrics, nursing and clinical bioethics.

This unique, participatory event is intended to promote healthy discussion among diverse communities -- public and professional -- fostering compassion, cooperation, and understanding about living with chronic suffering and the mortality we all share.

This performance runs one hour.

Both play readings will be followed by a discussion with panelists from the community and facilitated town-hall style audience discussions.

These performances will feature Adam Driver (Girls, Lincoln, J. Edgar), Joanne Tucker (Through the Yellow Hour, The Cherry Orchard), and Reg E. Cathey (The Wire, Lights Out, American Psycho); are translated, directed and facilitated by Bryan Doerries; and are produced by Phyllis Kaufman.

Outside the Wire's two-day visit at Bowdoin is sponsored by the Jacob Jasper Stahl Lectureship in the Humanities; the Bowdoin Departments of Classics, English, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, and Theater and Dance; the Gender and Women's Studies Program; and the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good.

About Outside the Wire
Outside the Wire is a social impact company that uses theater and a variety of other media to address pressing public health and social issues, such as combat-related psychological injury, end of life care, prison reform, political violence and torture, and the de-stigmatization of the treatment of substance abuse and addiction.

To date, there have been over 200 performances of Theater of War for military and civilian communities throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Over 40,000 service members, veterans, and their families have attended and participated in Theater of War performances and discussions.

Go to Outside the Wire's website www.outsidethewirellc.com to find more information about the project, watch a short video of a performance, and find out about recent and upcoming performances. You can also find Theater of War on Facebook.

END OF LIFE
Friday, February 8th, 2013
12:30-1:30 PM
VAC - Kresge Auditorium

End of Life is an innovative project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays as a catalyst for town hall discussions with the public about suffering and death as it touches patients, families, and health professionals who work in the fields of medicine, palliative care, hospice, geriatrics, nursing and clinical bioethics. This unique, participatory event is intended to promote healthy discussion among diverse communities--public and professional--fostering compassion, cooperation, and understanding about living with chronic suffering and the mortality we all share.

Translated, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries. Produced by Phyllis Kaufman.

Sponsored by the Jasper Jacob Stahl Lecture Fund, the Classics Department, the Sociology Department, The Department of Theater and Dance, and the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good,

To become a part of this project, host a performance in your community, support our efforts, continue the discussion online, or for additional information, please contact Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director or Phyllis Kaufman, Producing Director at info @ outsidethewirellc.com

The Association of Bowdoin Friends is pleased to continue this program. All members of the community are invited to read a good book and hear an excellent Bowdoin College professor lecture on it. There will be an opportunity for questions. The event is free and open to the public. Just come, listen, and learn.

Euripides' tragedy Trojan Women, originally produced in 415 BC, is a stark look at the aftermath of the legendary Trojan War. In a series of vignettes depicting the women of Troy, waiting by the ruins of their city to be enslaved by the conquering Greeks, he comments not only on the brutality of traditional Greek myths, but also on brutality in his own time and place. In this discussion, we will explore the ways in which ancient Greek writers could reuse classic stories to examine enduring problems such as the nature of power and the consequences of war. - Cassandra Borges

Professor Roisman is an expert on ancient Greek tragedy. Her lecture, which will analyze aspects of ancient Greek tragedies that feature the character Electra, will enrich our understanding of both ancient Greek theater and ancient Greek myth.

Free and open to the public. For more information contact Jennifer Clarke Kosak, Associate Professor of Classics at 207-725-3617.

Sanjeev Kulkarni on Machine Learning and Democracy: Some Problems in Collective Decision-Making

April 4, 20134:30 PM – 5:30 PMVisual Arts Center, Beam Classroom

The Classics Department presents:

Sanjeev Kulkarni

Professor of Electrical Engineering

Director of the Keller Center for Technology and Society

Princeton University

"Machine Learning and Democracy: Some Problems in Collective Decision-Making"

A recent area of interest in machine learning involves drawing inferences from a large number of agents, each with some partial information. These problems in collective decision-making are closely related to a fundamental problem of democracy--that of inferring the collective will of the people. This talk will give a brief overview of machine learning and voting theory, followed by a discussion of some of our recent work in these areas.

Underwritten by: the Charles F. Adams Lectureship Fund, the Jasper Jacob Stahl lectureship fund. Co-sponsored by the Classics Department and Computer Science with additional support from the Government Department and Computational Studies.